China: Beijing, Day 2

6.15a was our group wake-up call time. With only 7 days in China, there is a lot to pack into each day! The breakfast buffet at the International Beijing Hotel was so good. They have everything from eggs and bacon to dim-sum and seaweed salad. They serve illy coffee here, which we could not get enough of, it was so delicious.

an omelet, danish pastry, zucchini bread, dim sum, pickled mushrooms and seaweed salad...that's how i roll

After breakfast, we headed out at 7.45a for our first full day of sightseeing. First stop was Tiananmen Square. Surrounding this expansive square which is large enough to fit 1 million people, are the gates of the Forbidden Palace, Chairman Mao's Mausoleum, the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Great Hall of the People. 

the flowers got the memo

monument to the people's heroes

chairman mao's mausoleum 

From Tiananmen Square we crossed the street to the Forbidden City, the imperial palace where the emperors from the Ming to the Qing dynasties once lived. Vicky stopped us along the way to point out significant points of interest; telling us what they were and what they meant, adding interest and importance to things we may have otherwise over-looked. She also gave us the history of the Forbidden City and told us stories of what it was like to live here long ago.  

female lion

male lion

lunch

Next up was the Summer Palace. Known as a "masterpiece of Chinese garden design," this beautiful palace sits on Kunming Lake, surrounded by hills covered in luscious greenery. From the palace you can walk along the "world's longest outside corridor" to a marble boat where the Emporess' used to enjoy some of their time. 

i love her

this picture never fails to make me smile:)

street vendors selling roasted sweet potatos

From the Summer Palace we went to dinner, then a Kung-Fu show which was a mix of Kung-fu, Chinese music, theatre and...Pandas. We got back to the hotel around 9p and happily went straight to sleep.

view from my seat

China: Beijing, Day 1

"We have to do this!!!" Was the title of the email I received on April 27th from my best friend. It was a link to a LivingSocial deal to go to China for 8 Days. Less than a month later we were on a plane, headed for Beijing.

The LivingSocial deal was booked through Rewards Travel China who was just wonderful from beginning to end. A travel agent reached out to us right away to get the paperwork going. She walked us through the entire process to make sure we were throughly prepared for our trip and provided us with all of the information and details that we needed. This particular tour included 3 days in Beijing and 3 days in Xi'an.

When we arrived in Beijing, our tour guide (also with Rewards Travel China), Vicky, greeted us at the airport where we met with the rest of our tour group. There were 15 of us from all over the US: LA, Chicago, DC, Arizona and Minnesota. Vicky led us right out of the airport to our big, comfortable tour bus which then shuttled us to the International Beijing Hotel, a clean, 5 star hotel with big rooms located in the center of Beijing.

First impressions of Beijing: the warm air smells sweet and the trees are some I've never seen before, they are so inspiringly beautiful. There are stacks upon stacks of old, run down apartment buildings with air conditioning units outside of each of the windows and clothes drying from the balconies. There are so many people on the streets, in cars, on bikes, on scooters and mopeds. The traffic is comparable to that of LA, but in Beijing you can only drive your car on your designated days. 

So beat from all the traveling and with word of a 6.15a wake-up call, we ate and went straight to bed.